AS IF there was not already enough on last night's match in Milan, Silvio Berlusconi tried to raise the stakes still further. He was there for the television cameras before the kick-off, shaking the hand of every home player as they made their way through the tunnel, and his election posters, some mounted on hoardings practically the size of a football pitch, surrounded the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, with a message for the voters in next month's poll.

"The Left has put the country on its knees," they roared. "Italy, rise up!" Thaksin Shinawatra has nothing on this man.

Fortunately 81,879 people had a football match to watch. And what a match, first in prospect and then in reality. When the eight pairings for the round of 16 came out of the hat, there was a gasp of general delight as Arsenal were drawn to meet the defending champions, inspired by the feeling that the explosive speed of Arsène Wenger's young squad might be the weapon to expose the ageing legs of Milan's distinguished veterans and to undermine their challenge for an eighth European Cup victory.

It was not quite enough to make the difference at the Emirates stadium, although it might have been if Emmanuel Adebayor had succeeded with his attempt to direct Theo Walcott's superb right-wing cross into the net in the fifth minute of stoppage time. Last night Arsenal tried again, against a defence averaging 32¾ years and with Paolo Maldini, a few weeks short of his 40th birthday, not just fighting to stay in his final European campaign but looking for a ninth final and a fifth winner's medal.

Arsenal's task last night was nothing less than to contrive the overthrow of a dynasty and to deny Milan a place in the last eight for the first time in seven years.

And how brilliantly they fought in a first half that shook Milan and their supporters rigid. Riding their luck in the early exchanges, then visibly growing in assurance, they laid siege to the home team for minutes on end, testing the resilience of the defenders from all angles.

Cesc Febregas, for whom this match represented an important personal showcase, began by attempting to slide a through-ball between Alessandro Nesta and Kakha Kaladze in the first minute, only to find Nesta equal to the task of foiling Adebayor.

Fabregas's next important intervention was less characteristic: a powerful tackle to halt Kaka as the Brazilian crossed the halfway line.

Later in the half, the midfielder twice had opportunities to put Arsenal into the lead with drives from around the edge of the area, taking a touch to control the ball on both occasions and losing the chance to take Kalac by surprise, although with the second strike, from Adebayor's precise square pass, he made the crossbar shiver.

Kaka versus Fabregas was a contest within a contest, and one of the very highest quality, with the fluidity and incessant forward motion of the 25-year-old Brazilian making an absorbing contrast with the more deliberate gestures of the 20-year-old Spaniard. Whereas Kaka lurked inside his own half, waiting to spring, Fabregas could be found constantly patrolling the 20 yards outside the Milan penalty area, looking for chinks in the armour.

After another encouraging flurry of adventurous attacking from Arsenal at the start of the second period, the balance slowly began to shift back to Milan.

Pirlo made amends for giving the ball away in his own box by using a 30-yard free kick to bring a sprawling save from Almunia, and Kaka again began to express his brilliance.

Arsenal seemed to be pausing for breath, hardly surprising after more than an hour of supreme effort but just as Milan began to exert concerted pressure once more Fabregas's wonderful goal, created by Hleb's brusque intervention to dispossess Pirlo, pushed his team to the brink of a magnificent result.